The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research center and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has signed a new research agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to explore quantum computing applications.
As part of the agreement, TII will gain access to a range of quantum computing technologies via Amazon Braket, AWS’s managed quantum computing service. In addition, TII researchers will be able to leverage AWS High-Performance Computing classical computing resources to complement their work on Amazon Braket to explore research questions in machine learning, computational chemistry, and optimization. Amazon Braket is a fully managed quantum computing service designed to help speed up scientific research and software development for quantum computing.
The collaborative research agreement will focus on helping TII explore research questions being addressed by its Quantum Research Center (QRC) as a pathway to applications for artificial intelligence and drug discovery, finance, logistics, and industrial process simulations.
Dr. Ray O. Johnson CEO – TII
“Our priority is to solve tomorrow’s challenges, today. Quantum technologies are still in their infancy, but like many new computing technologies, their disruptive potential seems great. TII is building the first quantum computer in the Arab world, and we have already unveiled the first sovereign post-quantum cryptography library in the UAE. Our agreement with AWS is the next step in our quantum journey to building critical solutions for our customers. The access to AWS quantum hardware and HPC infrastructure in the cloud, in addition to their support for further enterprise R&D partnerships, is very exciting for us, and for the UAE.”
AWS will match up to $500,000 in spending on the service over the next three years for all eligible projects led by TII researchers in the adoption, evaluation, and experimentation of quantum systems. To assist QRC project teams in onboarding Amazon Braket and using the service effectively, AWS will provide workshops, self-paced classes, and other support as needed to TII researchers and its partners.
Moreover, AWS will facilitate the connection between AWS enterprise customers in the region and the QRC team, with the aim of building R&D partnerships for end-user applications of quantum technologies.
The agreement between TII and AWS is designed to advance TII’s mission to provide the best possible research and development capacity to organizations in the UAE. The news also builds on AWS’s commitment to computing infrastructure in the UAE following the launch of the new Middle East (UAE) Region announced in August 2022.
